Goa Plans To 'Cure' LGBTs With Medicine And Training, Minister Says

12/01/2015 5:31 PM IST
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Updated
15/07/2016 8:24 AM IST

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Rescue workers and policemen stand near a boat that capsized, on a beach in Panaji, on the southern coast of Goa state, India, Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2014. The boat taking tourists on a dolphin-sighting trip capsized off India's west coast Tuesday, killing three Russian women, police said. The women were among 10 Russian tourists who chartered the motorboat to follow dolphins more than a kilometer (half mile) off popular Betul beach. A large wave toppled the boat, trapping some of the passengers underneath, police official Nilesh Shirotkar said. (AP Photo/Press Trust of India)

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PANAJI: The Goa government is planning centres for LGBT youth on the lines of Alcoholics Anonymous to provide medicines and training to make them 'normal', said Ramesh Tawadkar, the state minister for Sports and Youth Affairs.

Tawadkar was interacting with reporters at the launch of Goa State Youth Policy 2015. In the policy, LGBT youth are listed as a target group that requires focussed attention. "We will make them normal. We will have a centre for them. Like Alcoholic Anonymous centres, we will have centres...," Tawadkar said.

When asked what exactly was the role of the special centres that the government was proposing to set up for Lesbians, Gay, Bi-sexual and Transgender (LGBT) youth, Tawadkar said: "We will train them and (give them) medicines too."

Like in the case of other "target groups" such as juvenile offenders, drug afflicted youth, marginalised or migrant youth, geographically disadvantaged youth, a detailed survey would be carried out among state LGBT community, so that their problems could be specifically addressed, he said.